Send by Microsoft:
Email That Chats Like IM

If you’ve ever typed “quick question” into an email and wished it behaved more like a chat, Microsoft just gave us a shiny new toy: Send. Born out of the Microsoft Garage and rumored earlier under the codename Flow, Send trims away subjects, signatures, CC/BCC. Basically all the ceremony that slows email down. This leaves you with fast, lightweight messages that still travel through your Office 365 mailbox. It’s email where it matters (compliance, archives, search) and chat where it counts (speed, simplicity). In todays fashion: delightfully minimal, unapologetically mobile.

What Send Is and Why It’s Not “Just Another Messenger”

Unlike WhatsApp or Skype, Send isn’t building a new network. It’s a thin client on top of your existing Exchange/Office 365 account. Messages you fire off in Send are real emails that land in the recipient’s inbox and remain in your mailbox history. The UI hides the baggage. No subject lines, no salutations, no CC fields. So “Got the deck?” or “5 min to talk?” takes one thumb and zero friction. And because it’s still email under the hood, your governance, retention, and eDiscovery rules keep working as before. That’s the clever bit.

In July, Microsoft released Send for iPhone (initially for Office 365 work/school accounts in select regions), with Android preview and Windows Phone support on the roadmap. Conversations you start in Send show up in Outlook, and you can pick them up there, too. It feels like IM, but it behaves like mail—perfect for those micro-moments where chat is faster, yet your team still needs everything auditable and searchable later.

The Flow Rumor Becomes Real

Back in May, leaks hinted at an internal app called Flow. As a chat-like experience for email. The public release as Send confirms the intent. Strip email to its essence for quick back-and-forth without abandoning the backbone enterprises rely on. As Caschys Blog (stadt-bremerhaven) noted at the time, the idea was to remove the “unnecessary frills” from email so you can communicate at the speed of thought—no thread-naming ceremony, no formatting detours, no “Re: Re: Re:”. Just tap, type, done.

Who Should Care

If your teams live in Office 365 and constantly juggle short, transactional messages—field technicians checking ETA, sales asking for a price nudge, project leads confirming a build drop—Send fits like a glove. It’s especially handy when you don’t want to splinter your communication across yet another consumer chat tool, or when compliance means your “chats” must live inside Exchange.

A few practical notes from the release window:
• Accounts: Initially Office 365 work/school only (no Outlook.com/Gmail at launch).
• Platform: iOS first; Android (preview) and Windows Phone slated to follow.
• Continuity: Messages originate in Send but are fully visible in Outlook—and vice versa for replying.
• Constraints: Send focuses on contacts already in your mailbox ecosystem, which helps reduce noise.

Why This Matters Beyond the Hype

Email won because it’s universal and durable. Chat wins when speed beats ceremony. Send stitches the two: real email addressability and retention, chat-level responsiveness. For IT, that’s strategic—no new archive to manage, no shadow IT to chase, fewer training docs to write. For users, it’s muscle memory with fewer taps. And for leaders, it’s productivity without sacrificing control.

I see this as part of a bigger trend inside Microsoft: mobile-first UX on top of enterprise-grade platforms. We’ve got Outlook mobile maturing, Office apps on iOS/Android getting smarter, and now Send rounding off those “micro-email” moments that slow us down. It’s small, but it scratches a big itch.

Try It, Then Tell Me What You Think

If you’re running Office 365, put Send for iPhone into the hands of a pilot group that lives on quick confirmations and short asks. Watch how many emails start to look like DMs—and how little training you need. If it sticks, you’ve just made email feel modern without breaking your compliance model. That’s a rare win-win.

Stay clever. Stay responsible. Stay conversational.
Your Mr. Microsoft,
Uwe Zabel

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